Spire, Chris Gabehart reject Joe Gibbs Racing premise on deleted texts
In addition to wanting the Western District of North Carolina to allow for contempt of court hearings to proceed against Spire and Chris Gabehart, Joe Gibbs Racing is also seeking sanctions against the latter for text messages deleted that contained a conversation with Jeff Dickerson. Specifically, JGR is asking the court to allow the trial jury in February to consider an ‘adverse ... Keep reading
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is seeking sanctions against Chris Gabehart for allegedly deleting text messages containing potentially damaging information. The deleted seven-message text thread with Jeff Dickerson was an attempt to hide evidence that could be detrimental to the defendants. The trial jury is set to consider an 'adverse inference' argument in February, which means the judge can assume the texts were deleted to conceal evidence damaging to the defendants.
Gabehart deleted the messages because he felt uneasy about receiving the job offer from Spire while still negotiating his separation from JGR. JGR is trying to prove that Gabehart misappropriated trade secrets during his time as competition director at JGR. Gabehart maintains that all misappropriated trade secrets were either turned over to JGR or deleted after their discovery.
The court has already found that Gabehart took photographs of trade-secreted material on his personal drives in November, discovered through forensic analysis. Gabehart and JGR disagree on when he should have suspected litigation, with JGR arguing that Gabehart should have realized litigation was imminent upon the discovery of the misappropriated information.
JGR first sent Gabehart a 'cease and desist and preservation' letter on December 15, one month after the texts were deleted.
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